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Tangled Webs

On Sunday’s Up With Chris Hayes I was finally able to identify what had *really* been bothering me about the entire Mitt Romney/Bain story line.

Chris asked his guest Ed Conrad – a Bain executive during the Romney years (the active ones and the semi-retired ones) why Romney isn’t OWNING his the actions of his company. Why is he seemingly embarrassed by what the company may or may not have done after 1999? If the company founded by him and run exclusively by him until 1999 was performing in a manner that he is PROUD of (is he?), then did something drastically change after he went to run the Olympics?

Of course Mr Conrad didn’t have a good answer to that – he did state that the company continued business practices as usual and he speculated that Romney WILL begin to show more pride in Bain’s record.

But – why wait?

I mean, as an onlooker and voter (granted knowing full well I will vote for Obama), the main message I have gotten from Mitt Romney is that I should be considering him BECAUSE of his record at Bain. Right?

Yet when it is pointed out that, in the course of earning significant profits for his investors, some companies were shut down vs reorganized and eventually expanded – Romney balks at those claims.

Yes, the political spin is that he is taking credit for companies that grew and increased employment under Bain Management and he is trying to minimize discussions of times when companies were dismantled and sold.

Again – why?

Even in government there are segments that are running poorly or are completely antiquated. What’s wrong with cleaning those up? If the bottom line is that a government program is draining money without a matching value to taxpayers, then why should it continue?

Don’t both sides talk about cleaning up bloated programs?

I would argue that Ed Conrad has made a stronger argument for that than Mitt Romney has.

And isn’t THAT the main problem here?

IMHO Romney has no confidence in his own record. This whole comedy of lies/spin/gaffes from he and his staff about his role at Bain from 1999-2002 is of his own doing. He is running away from or is embarrassed by or sees it as politically damaging that in those years there were some factories and companies broken up and the jobs sent overseas. Did his investors make money? YES! Isn’t that the POINT of Bain? YES! So, that’s a success! Romney has alluded to streamlining or entirely shuttering down some Federal Programs – isn’t that the same thing? YES! So those actions are as much a support of your intended policies as POTUS as are your claims that your job creation record at Bain will translate to the White House.

And you have to think that someone who has been running for political office for over a decade that he could have figured out a way to frame this in a more positive manner. I mean – *I* figured out a way and I’m just a nobody accountant and sometime lame political ranter on a blog read by 10 people at most.

I mean – his ability to run a campaign and show leadership and hire competent campaign employees is right now on par with John McCain – and that’s a low bar! After all McCain VETTED Romeny – he’s seen 23 years of tax returns – and then he chose..well..someone ELSE to be his VP nominee.

Today – Romney – Mitt Romney himself, not a spokesperson or adviser like those guilty of Etch-A-Sketch and Retroactive Retirement, no – Mitt himself today defended her decision NOT to release any more than 2 years of tax returns by stating that A) Teresa Heinz Kerry only released 2 years and B) He doesn’t want to give the Obama camp more fodder for opposition research!!

Uh??!!

A) That was a candidates WIFE – the candidate in question (JOHN Kerry) released 20 years of returns.